


in medias res

by commovente



Category: Hunter X Hunter
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-12
Updated: 2015-11-12
Packaged: 2018-05-01 06:36:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,477
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5195849
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/commovente/pseuds/commovente
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p></p><blockquote>
  <p><br/>“you just. you — are you asking me out on a date?”<br/><br/>kurapika’s reply is immediate.<br/><br/>“no,” he says smoothly. “i’m flirting with you.”<br/></p>
</blockquote><br/>the latest in a series of stumbling attempts at feelings — both the expressing and reciprocating.<br/>
            </blockquote>





	in medias res

**Author's Note:**

> a prompt fill for [painpackerrisingsun](http://painpackerrisingsun.tumblr.com). this was supposed to be a drabble, but the leopikas struck again so i hope you enjoy this sentimental mess anyway!

a collection of conversations from kurapika and leorio’s first date, in order of increasing coherency:

 

 

_i._

 

it’s half past one in the morning when kurapika gets back to his apartment, half-stumbling, half-tugging leorio through the door as he does. kurapika scrabbles for the lights with one arm, fingers tired and clumsy; with his other he traps leorio in a precarious embrace, face smothered against kurapika’s hair and the curve of his neck, the ridge of leorio’s glasses digging into the rumpled lines of kurapika’s suit. they’re both fumbling around varying stages of drunk, so it takes tripping over leorio’s limp feet — twice — and slumping against the entryway wall before kurapika finally switches the lights on. spheres of light ripple awake throughout the rest of the apartment, leorio mumbling into the crook of his neck and shoulder all the while. leorio’s glasses thud gracelessly by their feet on the floor.

 

“too bright,” leorio moans, blinking once, twice, a hummingbird flutter on kurapika’s skin. “ow.”

 

kurapika swallows, breath stuck in his throat. he opens his mouth, closes it, then opens it again in quick succession. finally he settles on carefully gritting his teeth, leorio grumbling on all the while, nuzzling his head until kurapika can feel leorio’s pout pressed against his neck, too. he feels warm, pulses of heat licking up his sides and burning his cheeks. less carefully, the hand still clutching at leorio’s jacket clenches into a fist, either to shove leorio away or closer still he’s not entirely sure. kurapika doesn’t allow himself any further along that particular train of thought.

 

then again, it’s hard to follow any sort of coherent thought at all. like this, pressed against kurapika the way he is, the only thing kurapika knows clearly and certainly is this: _leorio, leorio, leorio_.

 

“kurapika?” kurapika stills, wondering whether he’d said the last part out loud. he knocks his head against leorio’s, embarrassed. he’s still embarrassed when leorio continues speaking, but it’s a different sort of embarrassment, less deer-in-the-headlights and more helplessly, hopelessly melting.

 

leorio says: “are we back yet? hey, kurapika, are we home?”

 

kurapika’s breath rushes back to him all at once, exiting his mouth in a heady huff. he burrows his head further against leorio’s and doesn’t respond.

 

(for all the gel he uses, leorio’s hair is still sort of prickly. kurapika imagines him raking a hand through it in the morning, grumbling while he shaves away yesterday’s five o-clock shadow; kurapika imagines himself beside him, laughing through a mouthful of toothpaste while brushing his teeth. kurapika pictures them together: drunk, sober, sleep-deprived and silly around each other every morning.)

 

when kurapika doesn’t respond, leorio says again, a little more self-pityingly: _“kurapika.”_

 

leorio twists, craning his neck so he’s facing kurapika properly but it’s too fast, too close, the heat in kurapika’s cheeks slipping down into his chest, settling just under his ribs. his heart pounds double time, everything but leorio’s face going fuzzy in a way that has nothing to do with the alcohol they’d had some hours before.

 

he’s so unbalanced around leorio, so terribly, wonderfully fond, kurapika sometimes forgets he isn’t always like this, doesn’t always feel like a heartbeat away from falling in on himself, crashing head over heels for leorio. more and more often, kurapika finds himself thinking he wouldn’t want to feel any other way.

 

“leorio.” his mouth is dry. “yes, we, that is — yes. we’re home.”

 

distantly, he wonders if his lips look as chapped as they feel.

 

“ah,” leorio says, leaning in. “that’s good.” he sighs the words against kurapika’s lips. leorio’s lips are chapped, too, but by the time they press properly against his own kurapika doesn’t think it matters anymore.

 

 

_ii._

 

 

see, here’s the thing: leorio is faultlessly honest but he’s also an incredible lightweight, a combination kurapika finds both endearing and frustrating in a 60:40 ratio on any given day. today, though, kurapika finds himself swinging very closely toward the _frustrated_ end of the spectrum, hauling his and leorio’s joined weight along the sidewalk on their way back to kurapika’s apartment. the streets are mostly empty but people swerve to avoid them anyway. kurapika can’t say he blames them. leorio smells like red wine and moves like dizzy euphoria, swaying the two of them from one side of the sidewalk to the other, dancing to a melody kurapika can’t quite hear. then again, kurapika’s never been very good at dancing.

 

but then again, he doesn’t mind very much if leorio’s the one leading.

 

he does, however, mind leorio’s accompanying singing. he minds very much, but does very little about it because nothing stops leorio once he’s like this, nothing ever really stops him at all.

 

“but i would walk five hundred miles,” leorio belts at everyone walking by. he leans into kurapika, squeezing him with the arm slung around kurapika’s shoulder. kurapika drops his arm from around leorio’s shoulder to his waist in retaliation. leorio keeps singing anyway. kurapika ducks his head to hide his smile.

 

“and i would walk five hundred more —,” leorio’s voice cracks slightly. “ — dammit, kurapika, i _know_ you know this song, don’ — don’t, leave me hangin’ here.” he sounds out of breath, words shamelessly slurred, but through it all the shit-eating smile plastered on his face refuses to leave.

 

kurapika’s smiling so hard it hurts.

 

“c’mon, pika, _please_ ,” leorio wheedles, but kurapika marches on, stopping only when they reach a traffic sign, waiting patiently for the pedestrian light to turn green.

 

“just to be the man who walked a thousand miles…” leorio trails off. passing cars drown out the last strains of leorio’s voice, all but lost to the sway of the wind. kurapika still hears him anyway.

 

“…to fall down at your door,” kurapika finishes quietly. he tells himself leorio didn’t hear it, that this, too, is lost to the wind and swallowed by the streets, but. leorio reaches a hand — the one he’s not using to lean against kurapika — resting it over the hand kurapika’s left on leorio’s waist. kurapika blinks, turning to stare at leorio but leorio’s not looking at him, staring up at the sky, wordlessly tangling their fingers together as he does. the light blinks green and it’s leorio tugging kurapika along the streets before he dips to one side and kurapika’s surging to right them again.

 

leorio doesn’t sing anymore for the rest of their walk, but kurapika still hears music in his head, not quite in time to their dips and bends through the streets, but that’s alright. he’s not much of a dancer, after all. glancing at leorio, kurapika sees leorio looking at him back. the music in his head changes a little, not slowing but — settling, and kurapika thinks leorio must understand, because when kurapika faces forward again leorio sways less.

 

and when he does inevitably fall forward, some time later, kurapika catches him, and their steps fall perfectly in place with a song that still plays in the echoes of the wind.

 

 

_iii._

 

“uh-uh,” leorio jabs a finger at kurapika with every syllable, accusing. “there is no way i’m letting you pay for our date. _no way_ in hell.”

 

kurapika stares at him. leorio stares back, unwavering, and kurapika lets his gaze slide somewhere just beyond leorio’s face. he’s not running away from leorio, exactly, just, giving in a little, but. that’s how it feels, avoiding looking at leorio’s face like this, earnest and eager, directed full blast at kurapika. kurapika sighs.

 

 

“leorio,” he begins. “we haven’t even ordered yet. i can’t believe you’re bringing this up right now.”

 

leorio beams, glad kurapika mentioned it, and a roll of unease begins to stir in his belly, mixing with the flurry of anxious-excited-happy that kurapika’s been trying to hold down.

 

“kurapika, c’mon — knowing you, if i don’t say it now, you’re gonna go sneak off and pay for the both of us.” leorio frowns. “again.”

 

“do you have a problem with me paying?”

 

kurapika can practically feel the figurative hackles coming up, and he wants to smack himself — or leorio — because. _because_. this is not how it’s supposed to go, and why can’t kurapika do even dinner properly without inadvertently trying to push people away…kurapika exhales, flyaway strands of his hair blowing outwards with it. truthfully, he faintly wishes he could blow himself away with it.

 

(he doesn’t really, though. no matter how embarrassing, kurapika’s not the kind of person who looks back, not anymore. and especially not when he’s got leorio here, sitting just across the table.)

 

not that leorio is having any of this. he’s been watching kurapika work himself up without butting in this whole time, but apparently he’s reached his limit because he leans over, hands open wide to frame kurapika’s face between them. _too close_ , kurapika thinks. leorio exhales, too, and the breath comes out a lot like a laugh. there’s a shine in leorio’s eyes that kurapika tells himself must just be the light against his glasses.

 

“kurapika,” leorio interrupts his thoughts, “hey, kurapika…”

 

leorio blinks, and oh. the shine in his eyes is most definitely not a trick of the light. kurapika lets himself be fooled though, tipping his face up so their noses almost touch.

 

“…yes?”

 

leorio shivers a little, and kurapika takes it in, lets it tremble down his spine, too.

 

“nothing. it’s just,” leorio shrugs. “i’m glad you’re here.”

 

kurapika laughs, sees it reflected twofold in leorio’s glasses and eyes, trails his attention further along where a smile tugs at leorio’s lips to match kurapika’s own.

 

_oh._

 

kurapika clears his throat.

 

“so,” he says. “what do we do now? after establishing that i am, in fact, here,” he tacks on dryly.

 

“now? now we eat! so choose whatever you like, yeah, kurapika?”

 

leorio leans back, picking up a menu before brandishing it at kurapika with a grand motion of his hands.

 

picking up a menu of his own, kurapika covers his mouth with his other hand. smile tucked behind a palm, he imagines swallowing his happiness whole instead, potent as leorio’s grin if not quite as flashy. his belly makes a quiet grumble. eyes widening in horror, kurapika looks up but it’s too late: leorio’s laughing, hands flapping and glasses askew.

 

“see?” leorio says. “you _do_ know what you want, after all.”

 

kurapika reaches for his wine glass, notes the red inside before taking a sip. that way, he can blame the wine for what he’s about to say next, and whatever else he might do…after that.

 

kurapika says simply, honestly: “yes, i do — you.”

 

leorio spits out the sip he’s taking oh his own drink, and now it’s kurapika’s turn to laugh. a waiter comes along, taking their orders and wiping away the spill. he refills both their glasses before moving away again. leorio takes his glass, studying it carefully, very pointedly avoiding kurapika’s face, so kurapika leans across, tapping the side of leorio’s glass with a finger. leorio jolts. kurapika wraps his fingers over leorio’s own so the wine doesn’t spill. kurapika leans even closer.

 

“careful, leorio. you are paying, after all.”

 

kurapika brushes his lips against leorio’s forehead before sitting back against his seat, fingers releasing their hold on leorio’s. leorio swallows everything in his glass before slamming it back down on the table.

 

“uh-huh,” he gasps. “yeah, sure. of course i’m paying.”

 

a flush settles across leorio’s cheeks, bright and pretty, and kurapika thinks _well, why not._

 

he tells leorio: “but i’ll be taking you home after, then?”

 

what he actually means, though, is this: _hey, leorio, let’s get piss-drunk, absolutely shameless, so i can take you home and kiss you stupid._

 

leorio nods vigorously. kurapika rests his cheek in his hand, watching. fondness wells up from his chest to his throat; kurapika keeps it safe and quiet behind his teeth, lips pulled up in a smile that crinkles his eyes.

 

 

_iv._

 

“no,” kurapika says. “absolutely not.”

 

“and _why not_ ,” leorio yells. actually, that’s not quite right. leorio probably doesn’t mean to yell, he just lacks any sense of _indoor voice_. not that this convinces any of kurapika’s neighbours. kurapika rubs a hand over his eyes — leorio isn’t even here, but his phone voice is louder than kurapika ever is.

 

“ — i mean, it makes perfect sense,” oh, leorio’s still talking. he has no idea what he just said, but kurapika has absolute confidence when he argues, “no, it doesn’t, actually.”

 

leorio groans.

 

“could you please, for once in your life, stop being right. could you, kurapika? can you let me live here for once, please?”

 

 _well, there you go_. kurapika snorts. injecting as much sass as he can muster without giving it away, kurapika says: “you know, leorio, it’s not very nice to go around bumbling your way into other people’s living spaces.” leorio’s squawk is staticky over the line. kurapika continues —

 

“for one thing, you haven’t taken me on even a single date.”

 

“ _what the hell does that have to do with_ — wait.” if he listens closely enough, kurapika thinks he can hear the gears in leorio’s head start shifting into place.

 

“woah, woah, wait. oi, kurapika, is this. this.” leorio takes a breath. “what is this?” then, quieter ( _thank goodness for that_ , kurapika thinks): “…kurapika, what are we.”

 

“we are,” kurapika replies evenly, “whatever you think we are.”

 

“weeell, _yes_.” the leorio in kurapika’s head dismisses his statement with a wave of his hand, phone held right up to leorio’s mouth. “but!”

 

“…but?”

 

“but,” if nothing else, leorio is always so terribly expressive, “you just. you — are you asking me out on a _date?”_

 

kurapika’s reply is immediate.

 

“no,” he says smoothly. “i’m flirting with you.” then he blinks, considering that there is, well, possibly more truth in that response than kurapika originally intended. there’s a definite decrease of sass in his tone, for one. leorio-in-kurapika’s-head’s jaw drops. meanwhile, actual leorio makes a very interesting strangled noise, suggesting even greater proximity of phone-to-mouth without actually swallowing the phone entirely, a feat kurapika hadn’t previously thought possible.

 

in light of his own silent revelation, he decides to cut leorio some slack. “yes, leorio, i’m asking you out on a date.” but not that much slack. “unless…you’d rather not?’

 

leorio is yelling again.

 

“no! i mean, _yes_ , i mean. i mean!” kurapika gives him a second to think it over, then another.

 

finally, leorio says, “dammit, pika, you always do this to me.”

 

it is so tempting to quip back, _but i thought this is the first time i’ve asked you out?_ but kurapika doesn’t.

 

instead, he says, “so that’s a yes, then?”

 

leorio tells kurapika: “tonight at seven-thirty, that italian place you like,” before hanging up, as if he’s scared kurapika might change his mind if he gives him enough time. kurapika stares down at the blank screen of his phone.

 

aloud, he says, “it’s a date, then.”

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading! 
> 
>  
> 
> [tumblr](http://aobaejousai.tumblr.com)  
> [twitter](http://twitter.com/kitaiichis)


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